Linux 3.8 Released

The Linux 3.8 release is the first new Linux kernel release of 2013 and follows the Linux 3.7 kernel, which debuted in December. Among the big items in the Linux 3.7 release was improved support for the ARM processor architecture. In contrast, the Linux 3.8 kernel does not add an processor architecture; instead, it is removing one.

Linux 3.8 is the first Linux kernel since the creation of the open source operating system by Linus Torvalds to not support the Intel 386 chip architecture. The change is technically known as "Nuke 386-DX/SX support."

"This tree removes ancient-386-CPUs support and thus zaps quite a bit of complexity," Linux kernel developer Ingo Molnar wrote in the Linux Kernel Mailing list message to Linus Torvalds, proposing the removal of 386 support. "Unfortunately, there's a nostalgic cost: your old original 386 DX33 system from early 1991 won't be able to boot modern Linux kernels anymore. Sniff."